This manual describes a number of tools that can be used in courses to facilitate the process of reflecting on the knowledge and experiences participants acquire, with the aim of making their leaning more explicit and articulated and contribute to their professional performance in their own working context.
The guide on Reflexive Monitoring in Action offers principles, practical guidelines as well as theory and tools. Additional tools, developed more recently, are provided separately. The guide and tools focus on three target groups: Reflexive monitors Consultants, innovation brokers and action researchers who are (or will be) handling the actual monitoring Innovation managers Project managers or innovation champions who feel responsible for the progress of the innovation process and the realisation of the system innovation ambition.
Present-day society asks more from agriculture than just the production of food. Agriculture is now required to be concerned with the quality of food, ecosystem services, inclusion of marginalized populations, revitalization of rural territories, energy production, etc. This opening up of the future of agriculture encourages rural actors to experiment with new farming systems, using imagination, creativity and determination to replace dominant models. At the same time, low-cost mass-production systems continue on their way, with promises of a future based on green technologies.
Este libro está dirigido a todos aquellos interesados en la innovación como fenómeno sistémico. El marco teórico general es el de los siste-mas de innovación, dada su capacidad de explicación de un fenómeno complejo, su centralidad en el diseño de políticas y –como se verá a lo largo del libro– su potencial para discutir los problemas del desarrollo. Este libro no pretende ser un manual, en el sentido que se presentarán elementos centrales y constitutivos del enfoque y relaciones de causas y consecuencias.
This study estimates the mitigation potential of agricultural practices supported by IFAD’s current investments in agricultural development to provide guidance for the design of future IFAD investments. We use data from field studies in the scientific literature to estimate the effects of a large set of agricultural practices promoted by IFAD (and other development agencies) on soil organic carbon stocks, nitrous oxide emissions from soils, and methane emissions from rice paddies.
En este libro se detalla el procedimiento para valorar los cambios generados por los Laboratorios Territoriales de cacao, desarrollados entre el 2019 y 2021 con la participación de comunidades campesinas del departamento de Antioquia. Esta valoración se estructuró desde los debates recientes sobre la extensión rural y las estrategias para el análisis de impactos de proyectos con propósitos de transformación social.
Interest in farmland is rising. And, given commodity price volatility, growing human and environmental pressures, and worries about food security, this interest will increase, especially in the developing world. One of the highest development priorities in the world must be to improve smallholder agricultural productivity, especially in Africa. Smallholder productivity is essential for reducing poverty and hunger, and more and better investment in agricultural technology, infrastructure, and market access for poor farmers is urgently needed.
Con las nuevas demandas de la sociedad hacia las organizaciones de investigación para contribuir con mayor énfasis a los procesos de innovación, comienza a configurarse una nueva visión sobre el rol de la extensión en el conjunto de procesos innovadores.
The publication looks at innovations happening at all stages of the food value chain: from production to manufacturing and retailing. This also includes the extended value chain, for example input supply, financial services and agribusiness support services. Yields are improving and primary production is becoming more resilient as a result of digital technologies such as precision agriculture, agricultural drones, and digital farming services and marketplaces; and novel business models such as plant factories, crowdsourcing for farmers.
Agricultural water management is a vital practice in ensuring reduction, and environmental protection. After decades of successfully expanding irrigation and improving productivity, farmers and managers face an emerging crisis in the form of poorly performing irrigation schemes, slow modernization, declining investment, constrained water availability, and environmental degradation. More and better investments in agricultural water are needed.